IBM Firefly price comparison with Dell and Sun hardware

[cciesec2006]

Hi Guys,
I need to advice especially from Checkpoint SEs who are
familiar with IBM Firefly.

Current situation:
A customer of mine has 26 Checkpoint Secureplatforms running
on Sun iForce platform (Intel x86 boxes). There are 16 pairs
of Firewalls running in Active/Active ClusterXL unicast mode.
One of the firewalls pair is also running Floodgate as well.
There are 9 stand alone SPLAT firewalls as well. All of these
firewalls are running NG with Application Intelligence R55
with HFA_17. All of these firewalls have at least 12 physical
interfaces. Not all of the interfaces are being used but
we would like to keep everything consistent that way.

Currently, all of these firewalls are being managed by
Verizon Managed Security Service Provider, MSSP via Provider-1
NG with Application Intelligence R55 with HFA_17. The customer
has a CMA managing unlimited Enforcement Modules on the Provider-1.
The customer, not Verizon, owns the checkpoint license, maintenance
and software subscription support. Customer pays Verizon for
managing firewlls and CMA.
The Sun iForce platform has ended support last year. Now,
we are looking at upgrading both the hardware and Firewalls
version to NGx T65.

Requirements:
Customer needs to upgrade from NG with Application Intelligence R55
to NGx R65. Customer will be keeping the same model that Verizon
will be managing the firewall and CMA. Verizon also has Provider-1
NGx R65 with HFA_02 in place to support the migration.

I initially look at running the Enforcement module on Dell 2950-III;
however, since I will be upgrading both hardware and software, the
idea of running IBM Firefly seems like a good idea, if the price
is competitive.

Here are some of the questions that I have:

SUN X4200-M2
No. of Units 29
Unit Price $7,353.97
Cost $213,265.13
Verizon 3 years Support (3 X $ 37826.00 ) $113,478.00
Sun 3 years Support 3X $ 15130.00) $45,390.00
Check Point 3 Yrs Subscription (3X $37205.00 ) $111,615.00
Check Point License (New License) $80,000.00
TOTAL COST $563,748.13

-----------

Dell platform:
No. of Units 29 Dell 2950-III
Unit Price $7,343.00
Cost $212,947.00
Verizon 3 YRS Support Cost (3 X $ 37826.00 ) $113,478.00
Check Point 3 Yrs Subscription ( 3X $37205.00 ) $111,615.00
Check Point License (New License) Approximate Cost $80,000.00
Total Cost Per Unit: $17,862.00
TOTAL COST $518,040.00
(We already have Dell in-house support)
------------------------

Check Point IBM Firefly:
No. of Units 29
Unit Price $27,000.00
Cost $783,000.00
Includes 3 Yrs Hardware Maintenance, Support and License Subscription
TOTAL COST $783,000.00 (not including cost to Verizon support)

I did the math and the IBM Firefly costs, on average, about 10k more per
unit. Furthermore, this cost does NOT include the cost I have to pay
to Verizon for support.

According to ChillyJim, the cost of a Firefly for over a period
of 3 years should be very competitive compared to other platforms.
Is my assumption wrong? The cost of IBM Firefly is about 40% more
than on either Sun and Dell Servers

Can someone in the forum, especially checkpoint SEs can help me sort
this out? Thanks.